Father has been used as both title and honorific in various languages, synonyms and historical contexts. It may sometimes denote a title of authority or of honour.

List of uses of "father" in various languages

By culture and/or language

• Ab (Semitic)
  • Bwana ("our father"), from Swahili, meaning an important person or safari leader
  • Abu in Kunya (Arabic), used as epithet for "father of X"
• Baba, mark of respect in:
  • Indian honorific Hindu and Sikh
  • Baba (honorific) in Persian language
  • In Malaysia as an honorific of respect to address Chinese people born in the British Straits Settlements
• Batko, a Ukrainian honorific meaning "father"
• List of people considered father or mother of a field
• Founding father
  • Father of the Nation/Father of the Country
    • Pater Patriae
    • Fathers of Confederation
    • Founding fathers of the European Union
    • Founding Fathers of the United States
• Pater familias (Latin), title for head of household in Ancient Rome

Personifications

• Father Time
• Father Christmas
• Ded Moroz ("Father Frost")

By religion

• God the Father

Buddhism

• Abbot (Buddhism) a title for a monk who holds the position of administrator of a Buddhist monastery or Buddhist temple

Christianity

• Patriarch (Greek, literally "father ruler") as a title for the primate of a Christian denomination
• Pope
• Church Fathers
• Abbot, an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery
• Father, as a honorific for a priest
  • Aboona ("our father") in Syriac language
  • Abuna ("our father") in Amharic and Tigrinya